The puzzle is starting to fit.

I think that when a child is called into the principal's office for potential "punishment" or "consequences based on his/her "bullying actions", it should be mandatory that the parents be at this particular meeting. Based on the decision of the authoritative person, the child along with his/her parent should also receive a consequence. Parents are responsible and accountable for their children's behavior; children learn from their parents actions.

How about the fine being $1.00 per pound?

Maybe take the bullys and there parents and have them do community service on the weekends, this way the kids might learn how to be better kids and the parents might learn how to be better parents. This all starts at home.

My ten year old son was guilty of ganging up with several other boys and bullying a particular kid in his classroom last Winter. I was only told about it during his conference, three weeks after it had started. Once I was informed, serious sanctions were imposed and he was on lockdown for nearly two months. He had to write and give a verbal apology, I assigned him to write a paper about the consequences of bullying on the bully and the bullied. He had no privileges until I saw fit he get them back (almost 2 months). The point really is, why was the school district so reluctant to address the issue with the parents, often the people who can most effectively get through to their kid? My observation after 11 years of watching my children go through the district, is that school officials don't even try anymore because they believe parents will be so belligerant and uncooperative, or claim Little Johnny is perfect, or (my most despised phrase) "kids will be kids!" My plea to school districts is to start with the parents and keep trying, even if you think it won't help. I keep thinking about how miserable that little boy must have been while the teacher was giving the boys a "stern talking to" to get them to quit. A coordinated attack at such behavior is effective and shows the kids we're all serious about them treating one another with dignity and kindness.

I don't know what is scarier--the ordinance...or the chief's picture!
How will Milton officers be sure they have enough evidence of the violation? After all, they apparently didn't do too well with meeting the burden of proof in the case of the deputy whom they recently arrested for child abuse! But then that case was sent to circuit court, and these tickets will be played out in municipal court, so they won't need as much evidence to convict the little miscreants, right?

oh man, another bunch of stuff about nothing.

Bullies will always be there. They always have been, they always will be. Good parent's teach their kids to deal with bullies and how to cope and adapt with life. Good parents also teach their kids not be bullies.

When these things happen the need for something as silly as these fines is not needed.

How about we focus more time and energy on what is really important. Kids aren't enduring anything different than kids 10 years ago, or 20 or 50. You can blame youtube, or the internet or cell phones and all that other stuff, but it's just stuff and not really all that important.

Meaning, hunt down and find the criminals who robbed the women. Deal with bullying without fines which will be ineffective in 90 percent of cases anyhow.

Ncc,
So your premise is that fining kids will steer them off of their trajectory of robbing people 5 or 10 years later? I think your approach is misguided if that's the case. Whether teens are going to turn into armed bandits has nothing to do with whether they received a fine for bullying 5 or 10 years earlier. What do I say to the women? Nothing! We can't, nor should we, criminalize every last bad behavior our children do.

Does anyone really think a fine is going to deter this behavior? This is a REACTIVE solution vs. a PROACTIVE solution. Big deal, the bullying has already occurred, so the damage is done. Also, I love this: "He said youth offenders would get one warning before possibly being ticketed."

Jguernsey,
It may start out that way but writing a ticket is so easy for these folks to do. It will become their "go to" approach. Give it some time. If they have a hammer, everything will look like a nail meaning every time there's a hint of bullying the ticket will be written. I'll bet there's even a "zero tolerance" policy on our horizon. I agree bullies must be "handled" but our children also do need to learn to deal with these situations as well. Its tough to see a child feel bad and struggle, but these are also times when growth can occur. If you take that away from them will never learn to deal with situations like this even as adults. I would agree with the use of a ticket when the parents are just not getting the message, but as I have witnessed handing out tickets becomes the norm not the exception.

doseman95 ~ They aren't going to enforce it at Consolidated and Harmony. You basically answered your own question. Consolidated and Harmony are outside of Milton's jurisdiction so this ordinance would not apply. This is a Milton ordinance not a school district policy.
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etown ~ I think that a lot of people are missing the point of this ordinances and the examples the Gazette has used are not what I think this ordinance is set out to stop. This isn't just to prevent someone getting shoved in a locker, or being called a name. This is most likely written to prevent the type of bullying that has lead to several suicides by a few teenagers across the country. This is to make up for the absentee parents who aren't involved in their child's life and never taught them manners, respect, or decency. Perhaps once their children start receiving fines they might start to pay a little more attention. Also, please look up the proper use of "their" and "they're" and "then" and "than". Some capitalization would be nice too.

If it gets to the milton municipal court - they will be found guilty. It is quite educational to sit in on municipal court session there. You would have to see it first hand to understand what I am saying.

Could we also have an ordinance to enforce traffic law and vehicle code in Milton?
50mph+ is common at Cty Y & High St, or Hwy 26 and Piggly.
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I can list (5) vehicles in sight of my house that do not have a functional noise suppression system, (muffler), on their vehicle. One of them rips up my street at 5 on Sunday mornings...no way to sleep thru it on the only day I can sleep in.
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If there isn't enough manpower for law enforcement in Milton, you could hire me part time.
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I would be glad to help out :)

John Stoesell said it best" gimme a break"!!! How are they going to enforce this at Harmony and Consolidated? They are outside the city's jurisdiction. I can see it now, a multi- jurisdictional SWAT team to handle all these playground bullies. Lawyers must be lickin their chops waiting to file civil suits against the great injustice brought upon these victims of bullying. I laugh, not with you, but at you.

raoul_duke, do you seriously think these kids are going to have a 100.00 laying around to pay a fine. the courts and schools can no longer make them do community service because of child labor laws, hard work would be better then a fine they cant pay. you want examples , truancy has a fine, have the numbers dropped? out after curfew has a fine have the numbers dropped? what will happen here is going to be a big waste of police/court resources . the whole thing will turn into a he said she said kinda thing. if you ever had a teenage daughter think of their middle school years, they are fighting with their friend s on monday not speaking to them on tuesday, hate their guts on wednesday, oh mom can they spend the night on friday? what are they going to do when their older call a police officer to see how they should react to a situation because no one ever taught them when they were younger they just gave them a ticket their parents paid.

I'm very happy to see this. I can think of a few boys around town who need an arse whoopin from their parents due to their behavior. Unfortionately, their parents don't give a rats butt so hopefully when it's hitting thier pocket books, they'll decide to care.

I'm shocked people are willing to let the government decide what is "name-calling and teasing" and what isn't. Many police officers were teased and called names when they were kids. Feeling powerless as a child often leads one to seek positions of power as an adult. Are we going to leave it up to these officers to use their discretion on what is "name-calling and teasing"? More government = less freedom!

"Freedom of speech RIP"? The freedom of speech clause only applies when a government entity tries to suppress this right. Besides, I don't see in what world repeatedly calling a person a "f@g", "sl_t" etc, would be protected speech. Actually, if you want to split hairs, if it is spread around the school and the it borders on slander. Perhaps the people who are in opposition to this ordinance are the parents of bullies and are afraid that they are going to have to dip into their retirement fund in order to pay the fines that their disrespectful children rack up.
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I was bullied and "teased" pretty bad while I was in elementary and middle school and thankfully I had good parents and a good head on my shoulders that I didn't do anything extreme. Someone who is a little more sensitive may not have dealt with it the same way.

seriously? i'm shocked that there could possibly be opposition to this. words can be super hurtful, especially when you're a kid who doesn't have the maturity yet to recognize that there are simply cruel kids out there that are likely not getting enough love or attention...so they act out. if this prevents one kid from picking on another, job well done. look at the increase in kids killing themselves over cyber bullying. if it were your kid, you'd welcome any solution, no matter how small. and by the way... Officer "friendly" this is a compassion issue, not a political one...not everything is about left vs right.

etown, how do you know a $100 ticket isn't going to make it stop? Granted it may not stop every case and every incident, but how do you know it will have no effect since it has not been tried before? If/when a few of these kids actually have to pay the ticket, I think it will get the attention of kids that might casually bully to impress their friends but aren't really bad kids. I mean this would be genuinely new and different, seeing their peers actually taken to account and paying a fine, and let them know the same old stuff will not be tolerated.

Well I shor wood wupp my kids buts if they bully at skool. that wat they need.

fclady, i dont agree with this and my children dont bully other kids, but have been on the receiving end and i can tell you this a 100.00 ticket is not going to make it stop. what will though is the adults being involved and alert to these kind of situations. i complained several times to the school and nothing was done, after several attempts i gave up and went higher up. they actually had to send someone to the school to explain that my child had a right to an education, what harrassment was ,after a police officer talked to this other child the situation got worse. more threats now they just werent at school but all the time. finally the child made a statement and other students and parent s complained and the child was removed .they had to call the police department to remove the child. only for the school to let this kid come back after 2 years . then they put this kid in class with our child , and sat them right behind them , and then claimed they knew nothing about the prior incidents. we ended up having to move our child out of the class only for them to let them switch classes. the only excuses we kept getting was this child had a right to an education to. finally when we threatened to sue the school and hired a lawyer is when we got action. its the adults in the situation that determine the outcome. 100.00 fine that a kid doesnt have the money to pay for will do nothing.

*See Jane call a fellow student a name.*

Freedom of speech. RIP.

When I was a kid and I screwed up bad I got a whoopin' , now it only happened once maybe twice same with my peers . Now there is a big difference between a whoopin and an abusive parent ! I think the biggest reason we have all these stupid laws and zero tolerance crap in schools is because the discipline has been taken away from the parents and our government believes it can do a better job ! How's it workin out?

So what constitutes name-calling and teasing Professor? You said, "Ofc. Martin has a pretty good head on his shoulders, and I'm sure he will use his officer discretion wisely." Is this the same Jim Martin that was a detective with the Janseville Police Department and was fired after being accused of lying to investigators looking into his traffic accident and for showing “contempt” for the department’s internal investigation? The Janesville Police Department accused Martin of drunken driving, causing injury by drunken driving and failure to notify police of an accident. I'm not sure I trust Officer Martin's discretion to be the deciding factor on who gets charged with "name-calling and teasing". If the bullying turns physical then yes I'm all for it. Physical is physical. No discretion necessary.

I seem to remember hearing about a kid that was bullied so bad in milton at school and on the bus that he went home and blew his brains out, yes this is a good idea that milton has and maybe it will open the eyes of the parents that think there little johnny or jane are such angels.

wow setinmyways, have you ever taken an opportunity to get to know the chief, honestly I think he is pretty awesome and actually deals with the issues instead of sitting at his desk. As for the Rock Cty officer it is not the MPD's fault he made a bad choice in getting wrapped up with the mother of his child in the first place, she made the alligations not the MPD.......anyway back to bullying... I am more than happy to have my kids in the Milton Schools and know they are held accoutable for their actions. Poor choices result in consequences and kids need to understand that!

Maybe "taunting" should have been used instead of "teasing"? Not that I think either is great, but I think that the word "teasing" means different things to different people.
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As a fairly active parent at my son's school, I don't see a whole lot of kids being teased. But just because I don't see it doesn't mean that it isn't happening and that there aren't kids out there who are suffering at the hands of bullies. I am glad this has gone through. It's tough being a kid. Especially right now.

Young bully's if not dealt with as children turn into adult bully's...... Not sure what the RIGHT answer is but we don't want one of our Rock County Youths committing suicide because of bullying at school...!!!!

officerfriendly1, this is liberalism except if the word "retard" is used, then the conservatives call it bullying.

Will the officer that ruined the career of the Rock County deputy get this ticket? He should, same principle, only worst. An argument over a parking space? Or is this only for children? If we did not make the laws to take away parents rights to dicipline the little darlings we would not need this law. This is another stupid idea by the glory seeking stone stepping chief.

I find it very odd that more adults would not agree with this new ordinance. I would probably guess that a few groups thats would't agree. It's probably because they have a child that is a bully and they dont want to be responsible for the child and having to pay. Maybe you have never been bullied and you dont realize how horrible it is. We can spout out that outdated junk of sticks and stones, but I work in the schools and I would bet a few kids would rather be hit with that "stick" and get it over with then have to come to school everyday and be called names. Why is it that we rather kick the kids out of school then teach them a lesson for accountability? So I am all for it! Fine them until the realize you can't live in a world and be useful when you are a bully. Maybe it will also make some of these parents wake and realize you can explain you kids bad behavior away all the time by simply saying kids will be kids.

There is a huge difference between the 'name calling' kinds of things that we all recognize as somewhat of a 'right of passage' as a teenager, and the bullying that results when a student doesn't know when to quit. I'm guessing that this ordinance is designed to address the latter. Ofc. Martin has a pretty good head on his shoulders, and I'm sure he will use his officer discretion wisely. Finally, I don't think this has anything to do with liberal vs. conservative.

This is a REACTIVE solution vs. a PROACTIVE solution. Big deal, the bullying has already occurred, so the damage is done. Also, I love this: "He said youth offenders would get one warning before possibly being ticketed."
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Wow, Milton is really taking a tough stance.

Where did we go wrong? Letting liberalism take hold in this country that's where.

Police officers are located inside our schools and every transgression is a disorderly conduct ticket. Parents automatically defending their kids. Schools with idiotic "zero tolerance" policies. Boys having fist fights in school is a federal case. Where did we go wrong?

this is what happens when adults fail to have authority , instead of dealing with the situation and let kids learn from their mistakes. that s what being a kid is about , making mistakes and adults teaching why their behavior was wrong. we now just send them in front of a judge and they pay a fine. we ve attached a dollar value to everything instead of moral values. what do we need principals and teacher s for why not just have police officers teaching the classes . remember when you used to get into trouble and they sent you to the principal s office and then your worse nightmare happened and they called your parents. now they send you to the court house and your glad to see your parents, after all they can t discipline you or they ll be be sitting in jail next to you.

With court costs added that $100 fine could be as much as $177 for "name-calling and teasing".

When the Gazette reported on a bullying incident in one of the Janesville schools, everyone was "up-in-arms" because the school wasn't doing enough to prevent it. Now a district is trying to be proactive and look at the comments. Can't win.

Name-calling and teasing? Kids have been doing these things for centuries. Remember the old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me." When it turns physical then yes something should be done, but name-calling and teasing? I hope the parents of the first kid that gets a citation for name-calling/teasing has the money to hire a good lawyer.